Paving blocks are frequently used as ground covering elements in landscaping and outdoor construction. They are widely used today in residential, commercial, and municipal applications that include walkways, patios, plazas, sidewalks, decks, parking lots, streets and the like. Paving blocks are generally stone or brick or are extruded or molded into various shapes using concrete or clay. As such, the paving blocks themselves are impervious to liquid such as rain water.
In a typical application, the paving blocks are arranged with their side surfaces in contact with each other, resulting in a substantially closed surface. More often, adjacent paving blocks are held together in place with a bonding material placed in the interface between adjacent side surfaces. The bonding material is also often impervious to liquids. As such, liquids falling on the blocks are not able to penetrate through the interfaces between the blocks. This results in either puddles forming over the blocks or a runoff of the liquid towards the edges of the paved area. This can be problematic in times where the amount of rain water runoff increases during a storm or heavy rainfall.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have paving blocks that help reduce the amount of liquid runoff and minimize the amount of puddling. It is also desirable to provide paving blocks that can be installed to provide an aesthetically pleasant pattern or design.